Rapper with the 2022 hit "Big Energy" / SAT 12-13-25 / Board of creatives? / Orangutan, by another name / Connect to the internet via mobile hotspot, as a device / Harbor bobber / Pitch, roll and ___ (rotations along the three-dimensional axes) / Actress Birch of "Hocus Pocus"

Constructor: Gene Louise De Vera

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: ONE OF EVERYTHING (48A: Gluttonous request ... or what this puzzle has vis-à-vis the possible answer lengths?) — there is at least one answer of every possible length, 3 to 15 letters, in this puzzle:

Word of the Day: LATTO (41D: Rapper with the 2022 hit "Big Energy") —

Alyssa Michelle Stephens (born December 22, 1998), known professionally as Latto (formerly known as Mulatto), is an American rapper and singer from Atlanta. She first appeared on Jermaine Dupri's reality television series The Rap Game in 2016, where she was known as Miss Mulatto and won the show's first season, but rejected its award of a recording contract with Dupri's So So Def Recordings. [...] After a name change to Latto, she reached wider mainstream recognition after the release of her 2021 single, "Big Energy." The song peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, received triple platinum certification by the RIAA, and landed at number seven on the Year-End Hot 100 chart; its live performance was nominated for Best Melodic Rap Performance, while Latto herself was nominated for Best New Artist at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. [...] In May 2021, she confirmed in various interviews that she had officially settled on a new stage name after scrutiny for the racially charged nature of her name. On May 18, it was reported that on streaming platforms, Mulatto's name had been changed to simply Latto, a change first reflected on her guest appearance on Toosii's album Thank You for Believing, where she was credited as Latto. She released a new single titled "The Biggest" along with the announcement of her new name.^[26] On September 24 of the same year, Latto released the lead single from her then-upcoming second studio album, "Big Energy". The song became Latto's highest charting song on the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at number three. American singer Mariah Carey appeared on the official remix, which was released in March 2022.

• • •

Not a fan of themed puzzles on Fri or Sat, but as themes go, this isn't much of one. There's basically one theme answer (the "revealer"). Otherwise, the "theme" doesn't affect grid content at all, only answer length. I like the phrase "ONE OF EVERYTHING!" on its own, but the fact that there are all possible answer lengths in the grid ... shrug. Is this hard to do? Is it a first? Do I care? The answer to that last one is, definitely no. I NOT DO care. I also NOT DO care for NOT DO and some of the other, smaller bits of fill in this thing. ARD, for instance. Oof. ARD. Just look at it. Keep looking. You can't do it, can you? You turn away instinctively from the horror. The horror of ARD. ARD-horror. "NO I don't! I NOT DO that!" Yes, you do. Don't lie. Luckily, the marquee fill (i.e. all the stuff around the perimeter) is good. Good to very good. I especially like the BAD BREATH emanating from CURRIED CRAB, which itself is lying on a bed of FOOD ADDITIVES. Basically a CURRIED CRAB sandwich with terrible bread (terrible irl, not terrible as crossword answers). Can't say I'm a fan of CORPORATE GREED (in any context), but GET THE MEMO and FASHION ICONS keep that side of the grid strong. On the other side of the grid, one big issue: the way the clue is written (11D: "Remember ..."), with the ellipsis implying more to come, strongly implies that the answer is going to be BEAR THIS IN MIND, the "THIS" being the thing you are about to say (after you say "Remember ..."). I had PALETTE in there and tore it out because BEAR THIS IN MIND seemed so right. But then I got nowhere. And then realized that "THIS" could be "THAT." And that was THAT. But THAT was not something I was happy about. So it's a mixed bag today, but I sort of liked the non-theme theme—why not give your themeless a little zip, a little sassiness, a little unexpected glitter. As long as it doesn't go Full Theme on me, I think it's fine. I guess you could quibble with ONE OF EVERYTHING, in that there's technically more than one of most answer lengths, but there's no need to be hyper-literal about it.

Only one real mystery today, and that was LATTO, a name I saw the first time ... just now. Kinda surprised that I've never seen it (or don't remember seeing it) and also that it's never been in the crossword before. It's probably been in some crossword, but not the NYTXW. That is a name that wants to be in crosswords. Whether you want it to be in crosswords is another question entirely. Her fame seems legit but fairly recent and semi-marginal. Not exactly CARDI B or NICKI MINAJ or LIZZO levels of cultural penetration (though she did open for LIZZO at one point, wikipedia tells me, so she's LIZZO-adjacent. If you don't know who LIZZO is, this news won't be helpful or reassuring). The fact that her name is a shortening of "mulatto" ... is probably what allows it to appear in the NYTXW. Doubt MULATTO (for obvious reasons) has ever been an answer. [Whoa, I am wrong about that—four appearances, including once under Shortz in 2014; before that, it had been 41 years! And before that, another 29 years—back to 1944, when MULATTO was clued as [Half-breed] (!!!!!?!)]. I can't say that I thought LATTO was NEATO (never feels great to have a series of letters you've never seen before and have to take it on faith that it's right), but as long as it doesn't wreck my solve, I do like learning about parts of the cultural landscape I'm completely ignorant of. 

If nothing else, I will remember this puzzle for its POCO DONGS. POCO DONGS is giving me life. It answers the question: "Will there be a lot of DONGS?" As in the following imagined scenario: "Will there be a lot of DONGS at this party?" "Qué?" "Mucho DONGS? Will there be mucho DONGS?" "No. POCO. POCO DONGS, señor." I don't know in what context you'd ask such a question, or why you're asking the question to a native Spanish speaker. But that's the beauty of POCO DONGS—its shimmering ambiguity. Its thusness. Its jenesaisquoi. All I know is I've never been happier to change an answer than when I changed DINGS to DONGS. Because of POCO. POCO gave me DONGS. POCO DONGS. Q.E.D. A rap name. A band name. The universe.

Bullets:

• 29A: Connect to the internet via mobile hotspot, as a device (TETHER) — forgot this was a thing. Had the -ET and kept wanting GET-something, like GET ONLINE or GET WIFI or GET LTE or god knows what.
• 1D: Harbor bobber (BUOY) — an absolute gimme at 1D, one that immediately got me GARY (14A: City SE of Chicago), and set me up nicely to get BAD BREATH (1A: Possible turnoff on a first date).
• 5D: Orangutan, by another name (RED APE) — but does he smell as sweet? I don't "like" RED APE but I like imagining Letter Man swooping in and taking the "T" from RED TAPE, thus transforming the RED TAPE into a RED APE.  

• 9D: Order at a restaurant (HAVE) — as in "I'll HAVE the CURRIED CRAB." This one was tough for me. I was looking for a specific order (HAKE? Is that a food fish, HAKE?) or else a command ("HIKE!" "HALT!" "HERE! Over HERE! Garçon! "L'addition, s'il vous plait.")
• 17D: School viewing? (SNORKELING) — speaking of HAKE (?), I wanted this clue to have something to do with fish ("School" + "?" pretty much screams "fish!"), and I was right, but it didn't help me much initially. Needed many crosses.
• 28D: Pot user? (EELER) — thought we'd be moving away from fish by now, but apparently not. EELER made me laugh because it reminds me of [Hagfish lookalikes] from yesterday. The puzzle simply cannot lay off the eels and the eel pots and the eeling. EELER is a word you'll see only in crosswords. Did you know an EELER is also called a "sniggler." If you solved crosswords in prehistoric times, as I did, then you definitely knew that. [Sniggler] and [Conger catcher] have always been the most common clues for EELER. And I knew EELERs used pots because guess what—EEL POT has been an answer on multiple occasions. Not recently, probably, but back in the day for sure. Hmm, actually there was a 16-year cessation in EEL POT appearances between 1990 and 2006 (the EEL POT Gap, they call it*). But now it's back to being about as common as it ever was, i.e. uncommon, but, you know, a once-every-few-years type of answer (last EELPOT sighting = 2020).
• 50D: Pitch, roll and ___ (rotations along the three-dimensional axes) (YAW) — this is what you do if you catch on fire at sea. All the little pirate children learn to pitch, roll & YAW! It's basic nautical safety.

Time for more 🌲🐈Holiday Pet Pics🐕🌲. (Please note: I cannot accept any more pet pics this year. I adore them, but I've got more than enough for this year, for sure)

First up is Max on his holiday blanket in front of the fire. Max is always cold. I want to zip MAX up into my winter coat and carry him around all winter.

[Thanks, Edward!]

Here we see Flora miraculously surviving her encounter with a Yeti (a Yeti named Popcorn—which is a children's book title if ever there was one):

[Thanks, Kathryn!]

Coco's just happy she didn't get cropped out of this photo. Don't mind Coco. She'll just lie flat so she doesn't block the tree. She just wants to be a small part of the photo shoot. She won't be much trouble.

[Thanks, Kristi]

Next is Mel (short for "Caramel"), seen here plotting his path of destruction through the Christmas tree landscape. No ornaments will survive. Mel's owner Randy says: "He was a "foster fail," meaning that we were just supposed to foster him for the Humane Society for a few weeks until he was old enough to be neutered and then put up for adoption.  But we couldn't let him go.  His favorite holiday activity is stomping through the Christmas village like Godzilla in Tokyo." Happy stomping, Mel!

[Thanks, Randy!]

And we'll close today with a couple of cat duos. First there's Basko and Ping Pong, who are freaked out by and probably eventually going to murder this freaky little animatronic Santa (you have my blessing, kitties):

[Thanks, Andrew!]

And finally there's Streak & Freckles, a feline folk duo (I assume, with that name) who are also gift-wrapping enthusiasts. Skilled artisans. Very few cats are able to wrap a present from inside the wrapping paper, but these cats know what they're doing.

[Thanks, Carole!]

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*they do not call it that

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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"Duino Elegies" poet / FRI 12-12-25 / Word from the Greek for "folded paper" / Hagfish lookalikes / Tropical plants said to bring good fortune / Distinction for a classic underground work / Conspiracy theorist's accessory / Main component of a "gutbucket," a jug band instrument / "Buss It" rapper Banks

Constructor: Adrian Johnson and Jess Rucks

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: MONEY TREES (29D: Tropical plants said to bring good fortune) —

Pachira aquatica is a species of tropical wetland tree in the mallow family Malvaceae, native to Central and South America where it grows in swamps. It is known by its common names Malabar chestnut, French peanut, Guiana chestnut, provision tree, Saba nut, Monguba (Brazil), Pumpo (Guatemala) and Jelinjoche (Costa Rica) and is commercially sold under the names money tree and money plant. This tree is sometimes sold with a braided trunk and is commonly grown as a houseplant, although more commonly what is sold as a "Pachira aquatica" houseplant is in fact a similar species, Pachira glabra. [...] The name "money tree" is believed to refer to a story of its origin, in which a poor man prayed for money, found this "odd" plant, took it home as an omen, and made money selling plants grown from its seeds. (wikipedia)

"Money Trees" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, taken from his major label debut studio album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012). The song, which appears as the fifth track on the album, features a guest appearance from his Black Hippy cohort, fellow American rapper Jay Rock, and was produced by DJ Dahi. It entered the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart at number 19 due to high downloads, following the album's release. The song, mixed by Top Dawg engineer Derek "MixedByAIi" Ali, features background vocals from American singer Anna Wise of Sonnymoon. Money Trees samples the 2010 song "Silver Soul" by Beach House, as well as vocals from Lamar's "Cartoon and Cereal" and interpolates lyrics from E-40's "Big Ballin' With My Homies". (wikipedia)

• • •

My favorite part of this puzzle is how I keep looking at my grid print-out and reading SOFA BED as "SON OF A BED!" In case you were looking for a new minced oath, there you go. From me to you, free of charge. Could come in handy. "'SON OF A BED!,' he exclaimed at his puzzle, repeatedly." Not this puzzle, though. This puzzle was fine. Solid. Right over the plate. Just fine. The marquee stuff didn't hum as much as I'd like in a late-week puzzle, but none of it is outright disappointing. The fill ... is the fill. It hangs in there. Maybe leans a little too much to the ERG/OSHA/ICEE/ETRE side of the tracks, but it holds up. The highlight for me was "I KNOW, RIGHT?," a colloquial expression popular enough to have its own texting initialism ("ikr"). According to howtogeek dot com (!), "The colloquial phrase, "I know, right?" has been around since the 1990s. It's strongly associated with the "Valley girl" stereotype, but gained more popularity in 2004 when the movie Mean Girls was released." I also liked CULT STATUS (11D: Distinction for a classic underground work). Great answer. Let's use it in a sentence:

It originated as a low-budget attempt to cash in on the enormous success of FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, but VALLEY GIRL's genuine charm, perverse period flavor and breakout performance by Nicolas Cage ensured its enduring cult status. (AFI)

You know, Valley Girl! AS SEEN ON TV (if you have cable, probably). I'm gonna see how many times I can work Valley Girl into this write-up. . . nah, I think I'm done. Let's see, that's one two three ... four Valley Girls. Whoops, that's five. OK, now I'm done. Almost.

Do not put FONDANT on your APPLE SAUCE irl, it will turn out bad. Speaking of one answer on top of another, AS SEEN ON TV and "THERE'S MORE" pair very nicely. Unfortunately they both come from the world of adspeak, which I could always use less of, but I do like that the answers make sense together. Cohere as a corner unit. I doubt that RILKE is ever seen much on TV, but he is seen on AS SEEN ON TV today, so good for him. Sidenote: I don't think I've ever read a word by RILKE (50A: "Duino Elegies" poet). I associate his poetry with sallow romantic types. Wikipedia tells me: "In popular culture, RILKE is frequently quoted or referenced in television shows, motion pictures, music and other works when these works discuss the subject of love or angels. His work is often described as "mystical" and has been quoted and referenced by self-help authors." Gotta say, you're not really selling me on him, wikipedia.

OMG I only just noticed that this puzzle does CRISS CROSS / APPLESAUCE! And it literally crosses them. Amazing. Gimmicky, but sly. Clever. 

My biggest TIE-UP today involved, yes, TIE-UP, which is to say it involved the latter part of WASH TUB and everything that ran through it (20A: Main component of a "gutbucket," a jug band instrument). I know the washboard is a "jug band instrument," but the WASH TUB, well, news to me. I feel like this isn't the first time I've been stumped by a "jug band instrument" this year. Oh yeah, here we go—had to know the whole gosh darn band for this puzzle back in September. That puzzle had WASHBOARD in it, as is right and true and good. This "gutbucket" stuff feels pretty Inside Jug Band to me. I don't dislike the answer WASH TUB though. Just ... when "board" wouldn't fit, I came to a stop. Not a T STOP, but ... actually, kind of a T STOP. A "Tub" STOP, anyway. I also had no idea what MONEY TREES were; or, rather, I had no idea that they were an actual non-metaphorical not-made-of-physical-money tree. I was gonna say that I only know MONEY TREE as a chain of dollar stores, but that's (more aptly) DOLLAR TREE. Lastly on the "I struggled with that" list is ERICA Banks. I know lots of ERICAs and a decent number of Bankses (Tyra, Ernie ... piggy?), but I do not know ERICA Banks. The title "Buss It" sounds promising, though. Let's find out.

[cw: profanity, booty, WASHTUB washboard abs]

"ASS!? E'EN ON TV!? 'Zounds!" — Shakespeare reacting to television nudity. Actually, more likely reacting to television donkeys. Actually, more likely reacting to television as a concept. Zombie Shakespeare would indeed be astounded by ass, or anything, on TV.

Bullets:

• 17A: Conspiracy theorist's accessory (TIN FOIL HAT) — conspiracy theorists are no longer funny to me in the least since they're currently busy at the HHS trying to kill everybody [I initially miswrote "DHS," but that's probably true too]
• 29A: What blue crabs do roughly 20 times in their lifetimes (MOLT) — look, I did not *know* this, but I was very proud to have gotten it off just the "O," which itself was, at that point, entirely theoretical (from "SHOOT!," which I wasn't sure of (21D: "Fiddlesticks!")).
• 34D: Hagfish lookalikes (EELS) — I kinda like the EEL clue arms race we're currently in the middle of. If I gotta see it every other day, then by all means, throw new stuff at me. Stuff like "HAGFISH" (NYTXW appearances to date: 0) (I was wrong! HAGFISH did appear once, back in 1966 [Cousins of eels]) (HAGFISH also appeared in A NYT acrostic from 2013). Why are they called HAGFISH? I guess eels do kind of (???) look like hags. HAGFISH are also known as "slime EELS." Are hags slimy? 
• 36D: Company whose logo has a hidden arrow between its fourth and fifth letters (FEDEX) — is it "hidden" if it's in plain sight? Yeah, yeah, I read "The Purloined Letter," but still. Actually, you know what, I never noticed that arrow before, so I take it all back. Objection overruled!

• 40D: Word from the Greek for "folded paper" (DIPLOMA) — me: "ORIGAMI" also me: "That's not Greek, that's Japanese" further me: "ORIGAMI!!!!" Actually I had "DIP-" and thought to myself "DIP? Nothing starts with DIP-!" I was reading the "Di-" as a prefix, rhyming with the "Di" in "Lady Di." Whose DIPLOMA comes "folded?" Is rolling a kind of folding? Where am I? What are words?
• 55D: Whitehouse in D.C., e.g.: Abbr. (SEN.) — "Sheldon Whitehouse (born October 20, 1955) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Rhode Island, a seat he has held since 2007" (wikipedia).
• 56D: Physics unit equivalent to roughly 624 gigaelectronvolts (ERG) — pure crossword reflex. [Physics unit] three letters ERG. An electrical impulse at this point. I definitely knew what an ERG was at one point in my life (Physics being my only A+ in college—I know, right? stunning!). But whatever it means, the only thing it has meant to me since roughly 1991 is "a common three-letter crossword answer."

Time once again for 🌲🐈Holiday Pet Pics🐕🌲! Let's see who we've got today:

First there's Winnie, who's wondering "How in the world is this a 'holiday' picture? Are there presents? There better be presents, lady."

[Thanks, Gingy!]

Not much that's "holiday" about this next one either, though if you've ever tried to lie down to read a book (perhaps as a break from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season), and you own a cat, you've probably experienced something like this. 

[Wesley cares not for Jane Austen. Stop reading this instant!]

[Thanks, Laurie (and Cynthia, Laurie's daughter, to whom Wesley actually belongs)] 

Bochy here seems to have a toy in his mouth already but he's sure there are more toys under there. Quite sure. 

[Thanks, Jim]

Rebecca sent in not only her gorgeous Pete the Cat (R.I.P, Pete) ...

... but also two views of Sunny, who is not going to miss a reason to celebrate this holiday season: 

[Thanks, Rebecca]

A different Rebekkah (the two-K variety) sent in her whippet Sparkie, seen here at 9 weeks old, chewing on some kind of elf larva:

[Thanks, Rebekkah]

The next photo in the queue was also, improbably, sent in by a Rebecca, but we're gonna save that for next time ... nah, let's just do it now. Astrolabe here is being so dutiful and patient, I don't want to make him wait even one more day.

[Thanks, Rebecca]

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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